SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger – update

A new SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger replaces the original SPOT Personal Tracker (currently still available at a reduced price). It’s reported that it will retail at C$189.99 at Best Buy and London Drugs and will be available prior to Christmas. You will also have to pay a one-year subscription fee of US$99.99. Features of the new unit are:

30% smaller and lighter than the original models at 5.2 ounces

New satellite antenna for improved performance in trees or canopied environments

Advanced GPS performance chipset

GPS Acquisition light

“Message Sending” indicator light

Dedicated GPS Tracking button

New, dedicated pre-programmable Custom Message button

Protective covers over S.O.S and Help button to prevent inadvertent message transmissions

Illuminated buttons

Comes in orange or silver

Included case and neoprene fastening band

SPOT is a handheld satellite communication device that can determine your location using a GPS system and send messages via its own commercial satellite network. It will work almost anywhere in the world as long as you can see enough sky to access satellites. Its big advantage is that it works where there is no cellular coverage. Many outdoor enthusiasts, especially individuals or couples with no close family in the area, are using the system to notify others of their backcountry trips. Group of like-minded people are banding together to monitor each other by keeping a Google Maps window open on their computer when they know their friends are on a trip.

The unit costs C$189.99 plus a subscription of US$99.99/year for the basic plan and an additional US$49.99/year for Tracking, the most reliable and useful feature for keeping a reasonably close track of your friends. Think of it as part of your personal insurance cost.

Alert 9-1-1: For critical, life-threatening emergencies SPOT will dispatch emergency responders to your GPS location. It functions as an emergency locator beacon. A dedicated International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center (IERCC) based in Houston, Texas, GEOS is manned 24/7, by highly trained personnel who have instant access to national emergency response units worldwide. Their average response time between receipt of your 911 activation and dispatch of emergency responders to help you—wherever you are in the world—is only 11 minutes. The survivors of a multiple-fatality snowmobile avalanche incident near Fernie in December 2008 used SPOT to alert rescuers who were able to get a helicopter to them before dark to pick them up.

Check/OK: Lets contacts know where you are and that you are OK or to save waypoints so that you can renew them later. A pre-programmed message will be sent to your contacts by text message and/or email with a link to Google Maps with your GPS location. It will send the message three times and deliver the the first message received to your contacts.

Help: You can use this option in the event of a non-life-threatening situation to send a pre-programmed help message via text message and/or email with a link to Google Maps to your SPOTteam — the friends and family you have chosen to notify that you need assistance at your GPS location. It will try every 5 minutes for one hour or until a message is successfully sent.

If SPOT is unable to acquire its GPS coordinates, it will still attempt to send a satellite message, without coordinates, when either the 9-1-1 or HELP functions are activated. In the rare case that SPOT cannot obtain your GPS coordinates, but sends a 9-1-1 message, the Emergency Response Center will contact the primary and secondary contacts on your account to notify them of the distress message. The Emergency Response Center will then continually monitor the SPOT network for further messages.

Tracking: Allows you to send your location to your SPOT account every 10 minutes so your SPOT team can follow your progress in real time, or to save waypoints so you can view your full route at a later date. Your exact location is updated every 10 minutes for 24 hours, after which you must activate the unit again.

Custom Message: This feature allows you to let your friends and family know receive a custom message along with your GPS location with a push of a button. Use this feature as a secondary OK message or transfer your personal help alert to this message function if you are using a SPOT Assist service on your Help button.